I finally listened to an album!! obviously metal is not my most listened to genre so this was not my favourite. but I loved the song names (poison was the cure, tornado of souls) and also those guitars were electrifying
this was not for me and wouldn’t want to listen again. I felt more positive at the start but it really grated on me and it took a lot to resist the urge to skip billericay dickie
had a nice groove and quite pleasant to listen to overall. I loved hearing the intro of that lady and recognising it getting sampled by kendrick. also loved around 1.40-2.00 of summer breeze. overall nothing particularly stayed with me but enjoyed it more than I was expecting
I enjoyed this quite a lot and my dad loved giving me little facts as we were listening (neneh cherry backing vocals). I prefer soul mining and I was hoping a few more if the songs might sound a bit like the ones I knew from that album but I appreciated the sound here (big drums) and the intensity, and found the political content really interesting
I’m sorry to say I was ready for this to be over within the first minute of starting the album and it didn’t grow on me
Had a brief flicker of joy when the opening of I Am A Pilgrim reminded me of the start of 5, 6, 7, 8 by Steps
Can see why the compilers of the book liked this one because it doesn’t really sound like it was made in 2019. I remember hearing of michael kiwanuka when his first album came out but never listened to much of his stuff. this was pretty cool! I loved hero, solid ground and light. the others washed over me as I making dinner, but congrats to michael on winning the mercury prize!
“no touch too heavy, no tempo above a resting heartbeat” were what the album notes said, and this was unfortunately too languid for me
This is the first album we’ve had where I had never heard of the artist before and I enjoyed branching out into something completely new. a few songs I enjoyed on here
there were quite a few moments that sounded so close to going into something I would really like but it didn’t get there
I have been so keen for the day when an album came up that I knew already and knew would immediately get 5 stars.
she is the best!! If asked I will always say green light is my favourite song of all time and I truly think everything on here sounds amazing. no bad songs, lots of range and drama, and the highs are so thrilling. green light, supercut, the louvre, perfect places, sober are all huge highlights but I love it all.
huge shoutout to jack antonoff’s production which is often maligned but transcendent on these songs and I think went on to inform a lot of pop production in the years since.
thank you ella and see you next month
I’m sorry this was a tough one for me
This was such a huge album in my house throughout the 2010s and if I had to guess probably one of the most played too (Half Light II especially).
The Suburbs epitomised my music taste arouns this time and I can remember the day I went to buy the CD while doing photography for a VA project in the city, and I think I subsequently incorporated lyrics or images from it into various art projects.
The album as a whole maybe does not hold up quite as well as it once did and I found a few songs in the middle that dragged a bit, but hearing Sprawl II, Suburban War, City With No Children, Ready To Start again really unlocked something in me so I’m still going 5 stars.
The suburban dystopia themes really spoke to me and I watched the interactive music video for We Used To Wait (it pulls in all these Google Streetview images of your childhood home ans shows them all overgrown and inhabited by humans) so much because it made such an impression on me.
Not from this album but Afterlife was my all time fave Arcade Fire song
Found this fun to listen to and enjoyed hearing the little live bits
This was great! I was complaining only yesterday that I was disappointed I hadn’t discovered more new music that I really enjoyed through this project, but I enjoyed this one start to finish and found lots of new songs that I will be adding to rotation. The songs sound big, the hooks are sharp and the melodies that I maybe wasn’t sure about at the start of each song wormed their way into my head by the end.
Fave was probably Last Chance on the Stairway but overall great listen
This was more enjoyable than I expected and it actually grew on me as I continued listening to it after a not very positive start. This is not really my type of music but quite liked Omaha and Sitting By The Window.
Kinda fun and I liked some of those sci fi bits in the opening but it didn’t evolve that much for me afterwards.
Fun fact the first time I heard of George Clinton I assumed he was related to Bill
I recently read something about The Hives and how they were compared to ZZ Top in their early days and so I think that set up higher expectations for me. Move Me On Down The Line was okay and the I did recognise the opening of The Grange but I would have loved a bit more melody
Great album! I listened to this straight after the other The The album a few weeks ago and there were so many songs I recognised and enjoyed. For sure the more pop and political of his albums but full of gems. This Is The Day is so good, I loved the 9 minute groove we got into with Giant, and Perfect is a new found fave. Definitely plan to return to this
Add metal to the list of genres that I’m not hugely knowledgeable about, but I was expecting this to be a lot heavier and harder to listen to. So enjoyed it more than I thought I would and can see why people might love it. I didn’t really know any of the songs but great tie in since I watched the new 28 Years Later film today and there was a great Iron Maiden moment
I’m sorry to say this type of music just does not really excite me and so I couldn’t even really pick out any notable moments. On the plus side the album was quite short
Once again, something that I’ve enjoyed quite a bit more than expected. Those opening two songs are great and it’s lovely just listening to her voice. In saying that, while I thought the album was good, it’s not really something I could see myself choosing to listen to.
Go listen to What Have I Done To Deserve This? by Dusty and the Pet Shop Boys
This was not bad! Another artist I’ve never heard of before so it was good to branch out. My favourites were Broken Hearts and Glamour Boys, which are not songs I would have expected to find based on the opening few tracks. Quite cool!
It was fine, not really my favourite or that memorable except for those moments when it unexpectedly went a bit sea shanty-esque. Loved the album title
oh I am thrilled for this one. When I was a kid I had a long obsession with garbage trucks and when I was given my allocated dial up internet time I would often google things like « garbage » and to my great disappointment instead of information about actual garbage I got the band instead. Anyway since them I have come to love them and « Vow » in particular but I’ve never listened to a full album.
I love how crisp everything sounds and the way the sometimes quite heavy guitars play off the melodies and Shirley Manson’s vocals. Vow is probably in my top 5 songs of the 90s and I don’t really think any of the album tracks come close but I did really enjoy listening to it
l insisted that my parents listen to this while we were having dinner and it was quite an experience. Genuinely funny the way some of the sounds were deployed in here. Always grateful to hear some synths and there certainly have not been enough synth-based albums on the list so far. Can only imagine how revolutionary this was at the time and the people it inspired
Björk is someone who I would say I love without necessarily knowing a huge amount of her music, and so this was an interesting album to listen to, especially because it was quite sonically different to the songs of hers that I knew. The vocal textures were overall a little harsh and not always that pleasant, but I was definitely technically impressed by what she did. Triumph of a Heart also has such an iconic video which definitely elevates the song for me.
I assume we have several more Björk albums to go on this list because I feel like I can think of at least 4 that seem more famous than this one
Can I just say those voices are so lovely! I wasn’t really able to pick out individual songs too well but as a whole I really enjoyed listening to this.
It feels like we’be been on a real round the world trip this week. This album unfortunately reminded me a lot of this Christmas cocktail lounge album my parents always put on when I was growing up, which I hated, but this had a few fun moments. Particularly enjoying the beginning of Hong Kong Mambo, which I found quite thrilling (the rest of the song not so much)
To me this wasn’t super remarkable but sitting outside on a lovely Friday evening in summer listening to this was quite a vibe
I love pop punk!!! I’m sure there’s lots of debates around where exactly this fits into the pop-punk-rock continuum but it was a lot of fun. I was worried when the first song was that little skit (I generally hate skits on albums) but after that I really got into this. You do get a pretty good sense of how each song is going to sound and the way the elements are going to come together, but I also love how distinctive Dexter’s voice is.
similar critique to a lot of other albums we’ve heard is the songs start to sound a bit the same towards the end.
come out and play so fun!!
I played this nice and loud and imagined I was another 90’s angsty teen (perhaps a neighbour of the one listening to the garbage album).
My first encounter with Sigur Ros was seeing their video for Gobbledigook in 2008, with a bunch of people running nude across the Icelandic countryside (still great). And in a huge coincidence, I was actually listening to one of their later albums yesterday morning because I needed an appropriate soundtrack for the novel I’m reading set in Iceland.
And then this album came along!! Perfect audio accompaniment for me to really get absorbed in (also a section of the book actually mentioned Sigur Ros while I was listening to them). I didn’t really know the very early Sigur Ros stuff very well, but it’s easy to get lost in it and I found it quite beautiful and peaceful.
I really liked how unhurried this album was, taking its time to open up and going on a journey with each song. I maybe prefer their later stuff just being a bit more structured and tight but this was great. I would definitely return to this and keen to get through the rest of their discography too
Staralfur was my fave
I don’t mind the sound of this but it felt long. Gutfest 89 was quite fun? And I liked the radio spoken word interludes and announcements
This had such a soothing opening. I love those little flickering electronic beats and pyramid song is so good. It is very kid a: the sequel, but that’s pretty good for me and it for sure reminded me of how good Everything In Its Right Place sounded in the cinema during 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (I know wrong album). I will admit listening in the bush was maybe not the ideal location and the second half didn’t stand out much to me but it was nicely atmospheric in the vein of sigur ros
Really struggled with this one but at least it was only 28 minutes
sometimes these albums are just too long and it starts to feel like homework. especially a lot of these older classic albums because there’s so many reissues and deluxe editions i have to make sure i’m not listening to a version with too much extra stuff, but the first one i clicked on for this was 70 songs long. Thankfully I’m just doing the 23-song version (still very long!). I was anxious at the start but very into what is life
Album cover is great but I’m sorry this holds absolutely no interest for me
I didn’t really have the patience for this (it’s been a tough few days of listening for me), loved some of the rockier instrumental moments in love lies bleeding and parts of grey seal but didn’t enjoy every time he started singing. also it was very long!
bring back albums that are less than one hour long!
Edit: Ok sorry I’m taking that back because the album is lumped together with the follow up Streetheart on streaming, more than doubling the length (not Dion’s fault). Unfortunate because I enjoyed the first few songs from Streetheart more than anything from the actual album
Never listened to a Bruce Springsteen album before and honestly didn’t even know some of his bigger songs. But this does contain my favourite (I’m Going Down, discovered via a Vampire Weekend cover) and Dancing in the Dark (huge fkr a no lights no lycra fan like me). On the whole I think I expected a bit more and wanted a few more songs to jump out at me (especially after reading there were 7 US top 10 singles on here). But I’m feeling generous after the last few days so up to a 4
this was ok! not the biggest fan of this sound but more exciting to me than some recent entries
I don’t know if I’d ever heard Hotel California (the song) in full before but I found it so underwhelming. One of the most famous songs of all time???? The rest of the album was also unremarkable to me
please get me out of the 70s! I write this before I’ve listened to a single note but this is how I feel. But it could be great!
Ok I really enjoyed the sound of this and you can’t say that it overstayed its welcome. Songs were punchy and catchy, lovely fuzzy quality. Ex Lion Tamer was great!
Edit again: I was still ready for it to end because I guess it didn’t feel like it progressed too much, but still some great punk (?) songs in there
I wouldn’t really say there were any songs on here that I enjoyed, sorry randy
I think this was pretty much what I would have expected this to sound like, but I didn’t mind it.
I did start to find the cheeriness a little bit overwhelming as we continued through
I grew up in an anti-Michael Jackson household and didn’t really know any of his music until after he died, and even then have never really been a fan so this was interesting as it’s not one of his albums where I feel I know many of the songs.
And I didn’t really enjoy it very much. After the first two tracks I found it quite dull and was relieved to get to the end. These songs didn’t feel like they had any of the features that make his hits so distinctive
good riddance to the 70s
this was great! never heard any of these songs before and also very interested in the 90s britpop lore that inspired it. definitely on the longer side but I got so on board for the journey of this album and how ambitious it was. there’s a lot going on but I enjoyed it
(edit to add I’m not sure if I needed a 17 minute song at the end but it wasn’t unpleasant to listen to)
I think it’s a very impressive album in scope and concept but not necessarily one I enjoyed listening to a huge amount. There were sounds I enjoyed moreso than particular songs, but gave some points for commitment (personally I wouldn’t have followed the story from the lyrics). my favourite song was maybe goodbye blue sky, although I did also love the theatrics in bring the boys back home.
Growing up with the scissors sisters version of comfortably numb as my default did somewhat ruin the original for me
Going into this with high hopes because of how much I love LMK (hugely underrated song) but I’ve never listened to the rest of this album. I fear it veers a little too R&B for me but those are some lush soundscapes, I just wish they went a bit harder
some thoughts as I listened:
- for a long time I’ve found gotta get up to be quite annoying and I fear that did extend a little bit to some of the other songs
- quite funny album title
- sometimes things are just a little too jangly for me (this was one of the times)
- I did like Without You
- I was hoping the Harry Nilsson song that lana del rey sings about where his voice cracks at 2:05 would be on this album but unfortunately it wasn’t
- omg Coconut was so annoying
A pretty fun album! Singles are amazing and I also particularly enjoyed Picture This and Sunday Girl. I appreciated getting a full album of upbeat songs
This felt kinda relentless and intense, but at the same time I don’t feel like a lot of moments jumped out at me. Lazarus and Sue (Or In A Season of Crime) were my favourites
I’m sorry to say this but I don’t particularly enjoy this style of singing and in most cases the music wasn’t exciting enough for me to overcome that. In saying that, obviously Respect sounded great, but to me that was also quite an outlier
sounded quite dated and uninspired version of the 80s where the songs never quite took off
I really expected this to be more enjoyable than it was
it briefly got better around Miss Me Blind but not enough. also Romance Revisited was a nice song to finish on even if it originally wasn’t part of the album and felt like it shared almost no sonic DNA with the rest of it
it starts out fun and it’s a nice jolt of energy but I don’t think this album really has any of my favourite Ramones songs and it was all sounding a bit the same by the end (I’m sure a classic Ramones critique)
all to say I wish I enjoyed this more but also would probably go back to it
I knew one song by The Thrills growing up (Whatever Happened To Corey Haim? - great song) and it’s not on this album! So I was surprised this was significant enough to make the list
I quite enjoyed the vibe, kinda mame me think of Phantom Planet California which I guess is a similar time
Overall I didn’t think it was bad but I wondered what made it stand out from
other early 2000s indie albums which I feel like may have aged better?
question for us all: should live albums be allowed to count for this list? especially since I’m imagining some of the same songs could have already appeared elsewhere in here. no double dipping!!
thankful to not listen to 2 hours of this because I didn’t like it that much
was very surprised that one of the lines in summertime blues was also used in a pj harvey song i quite like
An album I don’t think I’ve ever listened to in full but have been meaning to! Iconic singles on here and ones that I remember loving in year 4. Christmas 2005 I was so disappointed to be given the Green Day International Superhits album because it didn’t have any songs from this album (I would later learn that their early career songs were also great).
Lots to love here: the ambition, the storytelling, the dynamics and also the brazen political messaging. Also, songs like Boulevard of Broken Dreams and Holiday still sound so good. I love Jesus of Suburbia even though I have to brace myself for the r-word every time I listen to it.
4 stars only because the second half did not really live up to that opening run. However, Whatsername is a great closer and now one of my favourites
I’m just going to say upfront, I feel one of the biases of this list, which already has a lack of albums from this century, is that of those precious few they seem to (like the Grammys) elevate late career albums from artists well past their artistic peak based on name alone. Like, are we saying Bruce Springsteen was releasing some of the best music of 2002? We shall see!
Sorry Bruce! guess I picked the wrong day to make that statement. I’m only four songs in but surprisingly think this is great. Don’t know any of these songs but I am vibing with it. Production feels more timeless conpared to Born in the USA and also maybe more nuanced?
As a whole, pretty good album
this one was not for me (one of my least favourite so far)
I kinda enjoyed the last song so it was a shame it took 1 hour and 10 minutes to get to it.
Took me a few attempts to get through the album. Had to stop after track 3 for an hour’s respite because it felt like I was torturing my family at dinner
another day, another album
such a good sound!! most of the songs didn’t stand out too much individually but enjoyed listening to it overall
I knew and loved Glory Box and Sour Times already so they were great bookends to the album
it’s far too long and apparently this is only volume 1! Also feels like a cruel punishment giving us another live album from the 70s within a week
I would say the whole thing kinda just washed over me, but the 10 minute long final two tracks were definitely starting to test me
Highlight was Saint Dominic’s Preview but i couldn’t tell you why
I’m sorry but this was just too indulgent for me and I didn’t need to be hearing 19 minute tracks.
Maybe also harsher on this one because THERE’S JUST BEEN TOO MUCH THIS WEEK
I’ve spent probably 4 hours listening to live albums from the 70s that I didn’t enjoy
Also a confession that I skipped four minutes out of the middle of the last song but don’t think I missed much
This was definitely a welcome change but also still a bit much for me. Lots of interesting samples and I understand that this was quite a visionary release even if not really in my wheelhouse. Tearz was a nice closer
My favourite of the live albums by far, even if only because this one felt so much more full of life and urgent. I can’t say that I loved any of the songs but it exceeded my expectations
I’m sorry that it provoked anti-Irish hate
I liked that this one actually sounded like a live show that it might have been fun to attend
